


New York City (Please Go Easy)

by breathewords



Series: Gold Rays: Bughead Summer 2018 [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Buggie Break, Camp Bughead, Prompt Fill, Summer, angst happens anyway, but i make it better, cityscape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 06:05:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15164273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breathewords/pseuds/breathewords
Summary: Veronica (tries to) show Betty, Archie, and Jughead the sites of New York City. Jughead loses at Kings Cup.Written for day four of Camp Bughead: Cityscape. Follow-up to the story I wrote for day two, so I recommend reading them together.





	New York City (Please Go Easy)

Veronica puts them up in what she claims is her favorite hotel on the Upper East Side. It’s even nicer than the one she paid for Betty and Jughead to spend the night at after he was released from the hospital. So nice that the four of them spend their first night in New York City exploring the hotel as opposed to going out. Namely, the room service options.

“Guys, please, let’s actually _see_ the city,” Veronica complains.

“It’s late, V,” Betty whines, blissfully sprawled out on one of the bedroom’s king size mattress, room service menu in hand.

“It’s not even midnight!”

“Where are we going to go at ‘not even midnight?’” Betty asks.

“Oh, I don’t know, a club!”

“Veronica, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re not 21.”

“I can get us in, I promise.”

“You can take us wherever you want tomorrow. Tonight, all I want to do is order…” She scans the menu. “…Truffle mac ’n’ cheese, and maybe test out that huge bathtub.”

Jughead falls on the bed next to Betty, signaling his agreement with her plan. Veronica turns on her boyfriend, but even her best eyelash batting can’t convince him to rally. So they compromise. Betty and Jughead and Archie order gourmet mac ’n’ cheese and burgers and sundaes in their pajamas, and Veronica makes cocktails from the huge kitchen and fully stocked minibar in the room.

“Let’s play a game,” she says when they’ve all eaten as much as their stomachs can hold.

“Odds are you go out on the balcony and scream ‘penis’ at the top of your lungs,” Archie says to Jughead immediately.

“No.”

“It’s odds are. You have no choice.”

“No.”

“Then do a shot.”

Jughead, already a little tipsy after one too many of Veronica’s highly alcoholic creations, pours out some tequila and downs it. He winces a little at the taste, but betrays nothing else as he shrugs his shoulders at Archie, who’s staring at him like he definitely didn’t expect him to actually take the shot.

“Fine,” Jughead says, turning to Veronica. “Let’s play a game. But not odds are.”

“Kings Cup!” Veronica declares, clapping her hands.

Jughead pulls Betty closer to his side and starts running his hand along her hip. That’s how she knows he’s definitely not sober. He usually avoids all forms of PDA, even in front of Archie and Veronica.

Jughead is very bad at Kings Cup, so he ends up drinking _a lot_. By the time they drain the liquor, he’s got his eyes closed and his head in Betty’s lap and is rhythmically kicking Archie every time he tries to get him to sit up.

“Let’s go check out the view from the balcony,” Archie suggests, cheeks almost as red as his hair and clearly in need of some fresh air to sober him up.

Archie smacks Jughead’s leg to get his attention, earning him a kick and a muttered “no.”

Veronica, being the second most drunk of the group, kneels down behind Archie, throws her arms around his neck, and says, “I’ll go with you, babe.”

“I wanna hang out with Jug,” Archie says.

Veronica is unfazed, and simply drapes herself around Betty instead. Betty turns her face away from Jughead, staring up at Veronica.

“Betts? Down for some girl talk?”

When Jughead opens his eyes and sees Veronica instead of Betty, Archie gets another swift kick to the thigh. Betty laughs, and gestures down to Jughead.

“I would, V, but I don’t really think I can move right now.”

“M’sorry to be such an inconvenience,” Jughead slurs, hands going to his heart.

“You’re not, Juggie,” Betty says, eyes soft with adoration and intoxication.

“Whatever, Betts. Archie clearly wants me, God knows why, so maybe I’ll just sleep with him tonight.”

That earns him a round of laugher.

“In your dreams,” Veronica shoots back.

“No, but maybe in yours,” Jughead tells her.

Archie finds their banter amusing for a while, until Jughead crosses the line from fun, self-deprecating drunk to something more concerning. Archie gives up on bro time and heads off to claim one of the rooms with Veronica.

“Head hurts,” Jughead says to Betty.

“Okay, time for bed. Let’s go, I’ll help you to the room.”

“Not yet,” he says.

“Okay.”

“Betts?”

“Mmhm?”

“Are you drunk?”

“A little,” she admits.

“I think I am,” he says at a whisper.

“You think?” She asks, laughing.

“I’m not supposed to drink,” he says, more serious now.

“Well, technically, none of us are supposed to drink,” she says, stretching for levity.

“No, like, I’m really not supposed to. I said I wouldn’t. But my dad said that, too. Until he didn’t. And I’m already just like him anyway, so really what’s the fucking point?”

“Juggie,” Betty starts.

“I’ll disappoint you, you know,” he says. “In the end, one way or another, I’m gonna fuck up bad enough so you won’t forgive me. And I’ll spend the rest of my life regretting it, and drinking to forget how much I regret it, and I can try not to think about how that’s my destiny, but it’ll always be there in the back of my mind.”

“I wish I could make that thought go away,” she says, feeling suddenly hopeless. “That’s _not_ how we’ll end up, Jug.”

“If I climbed through your window now, a year later, and kissed you like I am tonight, would you have kissed me back? Would you have kissed the drunk idiot in too deep with a gang? I bet you wouldn’t have,” he says, closing his eyes again in resignation, but opening them again just as fast.

He sits up and starts struggling out of the sleeves of his jacket, the Serpent emblazoned on the back burning a hole through his skin. It’s suffocating him. He feels the weight it carries, and he wants it off.

“Hey,” she says, stilling his arms. “I’m in this with you, remember? And there’s nothing you can do to change that. I decide what I do, and for whom. You told me you wouldn’t forget that anymore. And I’d do anything for you, Jug, because I love you.”

He shakes his head, seemingly struggling to reconcile with what she’s said.

“I love you, Jughead,” she repeats.

“I love you, too,” he says softly. “I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Jug.”

“Okay. I’m not sorry. But I still love you.”

“Good.”

* * *

They’re all a little hungover the next day, but Jughead definitely has the most trouble getting out of bed. His head is pounding and he’s sweating under the sheets and his mouth tastes like cotton and his stomach rolls every time he tries to get comfortable.

“Come on, baby,” Betty says. “You can do it.”

“I’m dying,” he says dramatically.

“Well,” she says, falling on the bed next to him. “I’m gonna go take a shower. And I think this one might just be big enough for two.”

That gets him up.

* * *

Archie laughs when Jughead and Betty emerge from the bedroom. Jughead feels a little better after the shower, but still regrets the amount he drank last night. He's daydreaming about a burger from Pop’s while Archie tells him he looks like shit when Veronica mercifully puts a cup of coffee in his hands. He downs it and appreciates her presence much more.

“Now, time for food!” She declares, a little too loudly for his taste at the moment.

But after a huge bacon egg and cheese, the sights and sounds of the city are all a bit more manageable.

They head to central park in an Uber, and when they arrive, they locate Citi Bikes to rent and spend a couple of hours weaving through other bikers, pedestrians, joggers, and even horses. Archie and Betty race, which ends with Archie demanding a rematch on the grounds that he got cut off by a kid on a scooter. Veronica rides like she’s compelling the bike forward with sheer willpower as opposed to leg muscles. Jughead makes an effort to stop at every pretzel stand he goes by. Eventually, Veronica brings them to a halt at Bethesda Fountain and insists on a photo shoot. Jughead’s perfectly happy behind the camera, but Veronica insists on a shot of him and Betty under the high-arching roof of the terrace.

“Jughead, get your ass over there so Betty can have something good to post on Instagram. Her social media presence is seriously lacking,” Veronica says.

“I think her social media presence is fine,” Jughead says, unmoved by her argument.

“Come on, Juggie,” Betty tries. “I want a picture of us together!”

“Fine,” he says ruefully. “One picture.”

“Okay, but you better make it a good one.”

He flashes a quick grin before jogging over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, dipping her down, and kissing her full on the lips in front of the fountain. Passersby whistle, and Veronica snaps the camera on her iPhone at just the right moment. The sun shines down over the terrace, lighting up the fountain without silhouetting them. Jughead’s got a smile on his lips, despite them being pressed to Betty’s, which taste like the lemonade she drank from a stand earlier and her cherry chapstick and summer. Betty’s hair is free from its typical ponytail, and catches the sunlight as it cascades down her back in blonde waves, her hand coming up to frame Jughead’s face. A breeze starts up. Birds chirp. The city bustles around them, but in that moment, they’re oblivious.

Later that night, before Veronica drags them out to a club to meet up with some of her old friends, Betty sets the photo as her phone’s background, wanting to forever remember the best summer vacation of her life.

**Author's Note:**

> Another for Camp Bughead! Thanks to everyone in the Discord who's sprinted with me, because it's the only way I've gotten these done. Hoping to participate in one or two more days, so keep your eyes peeled!
> 
> Title from a Chainsmokers song. I'm sorry. They're my guilty pleasure.


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